Classic Old Fashioned Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
This delicious classic old-fashioned cream cheese pound cake recipe is perfect for dessert after family dinners, special occasions, or a holiday celebration.
Easy Pound Cake Recipe
The recipe is so easy, and that’s one of the great things about it. Everyone raves about it when we take it to parties.
Imagine the traditional, buttery pound cake you might be familiar with — dense and soft, sweet but not too sweet, and with a golden crust that’s slightly crispy. Now, combine that texture and flavor with the creaminess and slight tang of cream cheese. So good.
What I Love About This Cake
The moist cake is easy to make and only requires a few simple ingredients that you most likely already have. And it really is the perfect pound cake. So rich, creamy, and delicious. The creamy combination of butter, cream cheese, and shortening helps create a dense and decadent cake that everyone will love, and I’m sure it will become one of your favorite recipes.
The super easy cake recipe can be cut into as many servings as you need. This has been a popular and great recipe on the blog because who doesn’t like pound cake with cream cheese?
What Do I Need To Make This Easy Pound Cake Recipe?
- Oven
- Large bundt pan
- Nonstick spray
- Spatula
- Hand mixer
- Large bowl
- Butter
- Shortening
- Cream Cheese
- Sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
Full printable recipe with measurements and instructions listed at the bottom of the post in the recipe card.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Add the softened butter to the bowl. This is a large recipe, so make sure you have a large enough bowl to mix up the ingredients. I almost ran out of room, but I was able to get it all in. The classic pound cake recipe is dense but has such a buttery flavor, and is a moist cake.
Add the shortening and sugar and cream it together with an electric mixer. Cream the ingredients until they are fluffy. It won’t take too long if you’ve softened your butter.
Add the softened cream cheese and cream again. I set the cream cheese out on the counter for about an hour so it would soften. Cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces and add them to the bowl before stirring. If you have an Aldi’s grocery store nearby, they usually have very low prices for cream cheese.
Alternate adding the eggs and flour. The recipe calls for six eggs and three cups of flour. You can add two eggs at a time, and then the flour. Mix together on low to medium speed.
Add the vanilla and mix in. See how full the bowl is?! It smells soooo good! If you have a KitchenAid or something similar, the bowl of a stand mixer should be large enough for the recipe.
This old-fashioned cream cheese pound cake recipe is dense, creamy, and rich. You really don’t need any frosting on it, but you can add some. I added a thin powdered sugar frosting that I mixed up and poured over the pound cake. It gave it a touch more sweetness and a bit of crunch when it dried.
Grease the baking pan and pour the batter into the pan. The pound cake will rise a bit, but it won’t overflow. Plus, it will be nice and crunchy on the top when it bakes. Mmm… I love the crunchy part of the cake.
Bake for one hour and 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. I use a long and thin cake tester because I can test it in the center of the cake, and it won’t really leave a mark. I like the longer cake testers because a pound cake is thick and dense, and you’ll want to know if it’s baked all the way through.
Let the pound cake cool and turn it over on a cake plate or plate. You can also gently turn it over and allow it to cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
Optional: Add some frosting.
I mixed 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar with a teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon of milk. If too thick, add more milk. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar.
More Delicious Toppings
- Add some fruit or fresh berries on top of the cake.
- Drizzle some chocolate ganache over the top of the cake for a rich and decadent topping.
- Try some lemon or lime glaze for a different flavor.
- Add some citrus zest to give it a pop of flavor on top of some glaze.
- Top with whipped cream for an added sweet flavor.
- Drizzle some caramel or butterscotch sauce over the cake for an additional treat.
Tips For The Best Pound Cake With Cream Cheese
- Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure your butter, cream cheese, and eggs are at room temperature. This helps the mixture blend better, creating a smoother batter and better texture in the final cake.
- High-Quality Ingredients: Use good-quality butter and cream cheese in the recipe. It really makes a difference in taste.
- Creaming: Properly cream the ingredients together until they’re light and fluffy.
- Alternate Adding Eggs and Flour: This helps make sure each egg is fully incorporated into the batter, and it also helps maintain the batter’s consistency.
- Scrape Down the Sides: Regularly scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure all of the ingredients are well-mixed, and there are no pockets of butter or cream cheese.
- Avoid Over Mixing: Mix just until combined.
- Use the Right Pan: A bundt pan is usually used for pound cakes, ensuring even cooking. Make sure to properly grease the pan or use nonstick cooking spray.
- Oven Temperature: Make sure your oven is correctly calibrated and preheated. An oven thermometer can help you make sure it’s at the right temperature. I’ve messed up plenty of desserts with an oven that wasn’t working properly. (Do you think that stopped me from eating them? Ha – nope)!
- Bake in the Center: Position your rack in the center of the oven, and place your cake in the center of the rack. This helps with even baking.
- Check for Doneness: Use a cake tester or toothpick to check for doneness. It should come out mostly clean with a few crumbs, but not wet batter.
- Cool Properly: Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10-15 minutes before turning it over onto a wire rack. Let it cool completely before slicing for the best texture.
- Storage: Cream cheese pound cake is moist, so it’s best to store it in the refrigerator.
Can You Make A Pound Cake In A Bundt Cake Pan?
Yes! I made this pound cake in a bundt cake pan. For the best results, be sure to grease it well so it won’t stick to the sides, and it will slide right out once it cools.
There were some little grooves in my bundt cake pan, so I made sure I got down in all of the cracks with the nonstick spray.
How Long Can You Keep Homemade Pound Cake? (Does Cream Cheese Pound Cake Need To Be Refrigerated?)
I would refrigerate this pound cake because it has cream cheese in it. If you place the old-fashioned cream cheese pound cake in an airtight container, it will stay fresh in the fridge for up to a week (if it isn’t all eaten first).
What Is The Secret To A Good Pound Cake?
There are a few things you can do to ensure your pound cake turns out good.
- Make sure you measure out the ingredients accurately.
- Use fresh ingredients
- Don’t over-mix.
Other Pound Cake Recipes
- Lemon pound cake recipe – it’s amazing how good a little bit of lemon juice and lemon extract can taste in cake.
- Chocolate pound cake with chocolate frosting – this recipe features sweetened condensed milk for a cake that is amazingly delish.
- Add some extra sweetness to your cakes with Kentucky Butter Cake with Butter Glaze.
- Make life easy with a boxed mix and create a brownie cake with a delicious chocolate icing.
- Or, try some insanely delicious cream cheese frosting. You can even add a scoop of ice cream to the side.
Old Fashioned Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 8 oz. cream cheese softened
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees.
- Cream the butter and shortening together.
- Add the sugar and continue to cream.
- Add the cream cheese and beat until light and fluffy.
- Alternate adding the flour and eggs and mix until completely blended.
- Add the vanilla and mix.
- Pour into a greased bundt pan.
- Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
You can never have too many delicious dessert recipes in your collection. Your cake looks amazing!
Thanks so much, Julia! You are so sweet. Your treats are just as amazing. 🙂
This pound cake is absolutely delicious.
I added rum
Oh my word, you weren’t kidding! The cream cheese made this the best pound cake I have ever had. Thanks for another favorite.
The most delicious pound cake that I’ve ever made. Definitely making thgis again.
So moist and delicious, this is a keeper!
My cake tasted great, but came out really dense. I’ll try cake flour next time
I made sure I didn’t over mix it.
This cake comes together easily and is so delicious for Mother’s Day! I wish I had a slice right now 😀
So glad you like it! It’s good stuff. 🙂
Hi Julie, I made the cream cheese pound cake as a trial run for a Baptism party. I followed the instructions exactly except I baked it for 95 minutes instead of the 75 minutes.. I used a tube pan instead of a Bundt pan. It looked beautiful when it came out of the oven but THEN it sunk in. When I cut it it looks wet on the inside which of course I know it cooked long enough so it can’t be raw batter. Any suggestions as to what might have caused this. Thank You Julie
Hi Pat, so smart to try things out first! Here are a few reasons that might have caused that.
1. Overmixing the batter
Cream cheese pound cake is dense by nature, but if the batter is overmixed after adding the flour, it can trap too much air. This causes the cake to rise too high in the oven—and then collapse as it cools.
2. Tube pan vs. Bundt pan
Tube pans don’t conduct heat quite the same way as Bundt pans (which have more surface area thanks to all the ridges). This could cause the inside to bake more slowly—even with a longer bake time. If your tube pan is dark or insulated, that could slow things down even more.
3. Oven temperature accuracy
Even if it was in for 95 minutes, if your oven runs cooler than the dial says, the center may not have reached a true 200–210ºF, which is typically needed to set the structure of a pound cake. An inexpensive oven thermometer can help you make sure you get to that temp.
4. Too much moisture in the batter
If your butter, cream cheese, or eggs were very soft or even slightly warm when mixed, they may have added extra moisture and affected the final structure.
Hopefully, that will help going forward!